Bodybuilding exerciser

ABSTRACT

A bodybuilding exerciser for laterally swinging a user&#39;s waist and lower limbs includes an upper level having a supporting beam, to an upper side of which a backrest and a round waist and buttocks rest are fixedly and freely rotatably mounted, respectively; a lower level having a pivot shaft, to which the supporting beam is pivotally turnably connected; and driving means for laterally swinging the supporting beam and accordingly the backrest and the waist and buttocks rest.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to an exerciser, and more particularly to a bodybuilding exerciser adapted to swing a user's waist, buttocks, and lower limbs for the user's abdominal area to laterally bend into substantially “21 ” and “>” shaped positions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] There are exercisers commercially available in markets for tightening a user's muscles at abdomen and flanks by causing feet positioned on the exercisers to move laterally in reciprocating motion or along an S-shaped track.

[0003] Using such exercisers for the user's muscles at waist and lower limbs to do sufficient exercises is helpful in training and strengthening the user's abdominal muscles and in modifying the user's body curves at waist and flanks.

[0004] However, to effectively modify body curves at waist and flanks, the user has to subject his or her abdominal and other muscles to a certain high degree of load while doing exercises. It is preferable the user's abdomen is caused to move laterally at a span more than 20 cm to obtain the effect of modifying the user's body curves at waist and flanks.

[0005] With the above-mentioned conventional exercisers, the user's feet are caused to repeat lateral movements within a span about only 4 cm that does not subject the abdominal and other muscles to sufficient load during the exercises and therefore has limited effect from the very beginning of doing exercises.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] A primary object of the present invention is to provide a bodybuilding exerciser that effectively provides a user's abdominal and other muscles with properly increased amount of exercises by laterally swinging a user's abdomen and lower limbs with areas close to the user's head as a pivotal point. Repeated experiments conducted on the bodybuilding exerciser of the present invention indicate the exerciser indeed enables the user's abdominal and other muscles to obtain increased amount of exercise, as compared with the conventional exercisers that utilize feet movements to indirectly achieve exercises at waist.

[0007] It is further found from experiments conducted on the exerciser of the present invention that lateral swinging of a user's waist and lower limbs at a span larger than a certain range would achieve an increased amount of exercise for the abdomen and the lower limbs.

[0008] To achieve the above and other objects, the bodybuilding exerciser of the present invention mainly includes an upper level having a supporting beam, to an upper side of which a backrest and a round waist and buttocks rest are fixedly and freely rotatably mounted, respectively; a lower level having a pivot shaft, to which an end of the supporting beam is pivotally turnably connected; and driving means for laterally swinging the supporting beam and accordingly the backrest and the waist and buttocks rest mounted on the supporting beam.

[0009] With the bodybuilding exerciser of the present invention, a user's waist, buttocks, and lower limbs are laterally swung for the abdominal area to laterally bend into substantially “<” and “>” shaped positions to obtain sufficient exercise.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein

[0011]FIG. 1 is a side view of a bodybuilding exerciser according to the present invention;

[0012]FIG. 2 is a top view of the bodybuilding exerciser of the present invention;

[0013]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the bodybuilding exerciser of the present invention;

[0014]FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the bodybuilding exerciser of the present invention showing driving means thereof;

[0015]FIG. 5 is an elevational view showing the relation between a driving post and a crank included in the driving means of the present invention;

[0016]FIG. 6 is a top plan view showing the relation between the driving post and the crank included in the driving means of the present invention;

[0017]FIG. 7 is a top plan view showing the lateral swing of the exerciser of the present invention;

[0018]FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the bodybuilding exerciser of the present invention with a user lying thereon; and

[0019]FIG. 9 is a top plan view of FIG. 8 showing the bodybuilding exerciser of the present invention swings the user's waist and lower limbs.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0020] Please refer to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 that are side, top plan, and perspective views, respectively, of a bodybuilding exerciser 01 according to the present invention. As shown, the exerciser 01 has a main body mainly constructed from two longitudinally and parallelly extended round pipes 26, two transversely extended angular pipes 27, and a guiding round tube 21. A pivot shaft 22 is provided at a front end of the main body of the exerciser 01 to serve as a center of swing.

[0021] The main body of the exerciser 01 includes an upper level 10 that includes a longitudinally extended supporting beam 11, a back rest 12 and a waist and buttocks rest 13 provided on the supporting beam 11 at predetermined positions. The waist rest 13 is a round turntable freely turnable relative to the supporting beam 11. A pair of handles 14 is provided at two sides of the supporting beam 11 near a middle portion thereof. By gripping at the handles 14, a user lying on the swinging exerciser 01 is maintained in a safe position thereon. The waist and buttocks rest 13 preferable has a diameter more than 20 cm and less than 50 cm, and a thickness more than 1 cm and less than 5 cm.

[0022] The main body of the exerciser 01 also includes a lower level 20 on which driving means for moving the supporting beam 11 and accordingly the back rest 12 and the waist rest 13 thereon is provided to swing the user's waist and lower limbs in lateral directions, as indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 7.

[0023] As shown in FIG. 4, the driving means adopted in the present invention mainly includes a driving motor 23 preferably having a nominal power consumption above 30W, a crank 24 extended from a front end of a driving shaft of the driving motor 23, and a driving post 16 mounted below and connected to a lower side of the supporting beam 11.

[0024] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a driving motor 23 having a nominal power consumption of 90W is used, and a reducer having an output shaft rotational speed of 20 rpm is connected to the driving motor 23 to increase a rotating torque thereof.

[0025] In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the driving motor 23 is configured to have lowest possible driving force to achieve miniaturization of the driving motor 23. In this case, a bearing surface on the guiding round tube 21 on the lower level 20 of the main body in contact with a guide roller 28 mounted to the lower side of the supporting beam 11 is used support the user's waist weight bearing on the turntable (waist and buttocks rest) 13. By way of using the guide roller 28 to reduce the load of the pivot shaft 22 and reducing a driving torque of the driving motor 23, the driving motor 23 may be further miniaturized to enable easy portability of the bodybuilding exerciser 01 of the present invention.

[0026] To enable the exerciser 01 of the present invention to stably swing along a predetermined orbit, it is preferable to provide two or more guide rollers 28 on the exerciser 01. However, it is also acceptable to have only one guide roller 28. In the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, there is only one guide roller 28.

[0027] The exerciser 01 also includes a footrest 30 provided at a rear end of the lower level 20 of the main body. The footrest 30 includes two rubber-made foot supports 31 that are telescopically connected to rear ends of the round pipes 26, so that the footrest 30 could be freely extended or retracted to match users of different lengths.

[0028] When using the exerciser 01 of the present invention, the user lies on his or her back on the exerciser 01 with the back rested on the backrest 12, the waist and buttocks on the turntable 13, and two feet on the rubber-made foot supports 31, as shown in FIG. 8. The footrest 30 should be adjusted for the foot supports 31 to locate near the user's ankles. When a switch on the exerciser 01 is switched on, the upper level 10 of the main body starts swing laterally to bring the user's waist and lower limbs to swing accordingly, as shown in FIG. 9, causing the user's abdominal and leg muscles to endure a certain appropriate extent of moving load and thereby improve body curves at the user's waist and abdomen. Such lateral swinging of waist and lower limbs also helps in relieving tired abdominal muscles.

[0029]FIG. 4 shows the driving means of the present invention. As shown, the supporting beam 11 is pivotally connected at one end to the pivot shaft 22 to freely swing about the pivot shaft 22 above the lower level 20 of the main body. The driving post 16 is welded to the lower side of the supporting beam 11 at a position close to the pivot shaft 22. The driving post 16 is provided at one side surface facing toward the driving motor 23 with a guide slot 17, into which a front end 25 of the crank 24 directly connected to the motor shaft is inserted. The driving motor 23 is fixedly mounted with bolts onto a motor mounting plate provided on the lower level 20 of the main body.

[0030] When the driving motor 23 starts rotating, the crank 24 directly connected to the motor shaft is turned in a fixed track and the front end 25 thereof inserted in the guide slot 17 of the driving post 16 starts sliding in the guide slot 17 and brings the guide slot 17 to move upward and downward. Meanwhile, the driving post 16 starts moving horizontally in response to the rotation motion of the front end 25 of the crank 24.

[0031] Please refer to FIG. 5. When the crank 24 is turned from an initial point A by a quarter of circle to point B, the driving post 16 is moved by the crank 24 from position Z to position X, which is the furthest position from a centerline of the supporting beam 11 within a span of movement of the driving post 16 relative to the supporting beam 11. The span of movement of the driving post 16 is in proportion to a crank displacement of the crank 24. When the crank 24 is continuously turned by another quarter of circle, the front end 25 thereof is moved from point B to point C and the driving post 16 is returned from position X to position Z. When the crank 24 is turned further by another quarter of circle from point C to point D, the driving post 16 is moved from position Z to position Y. When the crank 24 is further turned by a quarter of circle, the front end 25 thereof is returned from point D to the initial position at point A, and the driving post 16 is returned from position Y to position Z.

[0032] When the front end 25 of the crank 24 is continuously turned along the track of A→B→C→D→A, the driving post 16 is also brought to repeatedly move horizontally in the track of Z→X→Z→Y→Z, with position Z as an initial position thereof.

[0033] Since the driving post 16 is fixedly welded to the supporting beam 11, the entire upper level 10 of the main body of the exerciser 0l with the supporting beam 11 as a center thereof is brought to repeatedly move laterally and horizontally.

[0034]FIG. 6 is a top plan view showing the relation between the driving post 16 and the crank 24 included in the driving means of the present invention.

[0035] It is preferable the supporting beam 11 and accordingly the upper level 10 of the exerciser 01 have a span of horizontal movement within a range from 5 to 18 degrees. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the span of horizontal movement for the supporting beam 11 and the upper level 10 is set to 14 degrees. Alternatively, the supporting beam 11 has a span of lateral swing less than 50 cm. Moreover, the upper level 10 of the exerciser 01 swings laterally at a speed determined by a gear ratio of the driving motor 23 that is equipped with a reducer. It is preferable the swing speed is within a range from 10 times/minute to 100 EF times/minute. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the swing speed is set to 20 times/minute.

[0036] The exerciser 01 of the present invention brings the user's waist and lower limbs to swing to an extent sufficient for the user's muscles at waist, abdomen and lower limbs to get proper amount of exercise and to shape into improved body curves, as well as to relieve tired abdominal muscles. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A bodybuilding exerciser for laterally swinging a user's waist and lower limbs and bending the user's abdominal area into substantially “<” and“>” shaped positions, comprising a main body having an upper and a lower level, said upper level including a supporting beam, on an upper side of which a backrest and a round waist and buttocks rest are fixedly and freely rotatably mounted, respectively, and to a lower side of said supporting beam a guide roller is mounted for supporting a user's weight at the waist, said lower level including a pivot shaft connected to a front end thereof for an end of said supporting beam to pivotally turnably connected thereto, a guiding round tube with which said guide roller contacts, and a footrest inserted in rear ends of pipes forming said main body to freely extend or retract relative to said pipes; and driving means mounted above said lower level of said main body for swinging said supporting beam laterally.
 2. The bodybuilding exerciser as claimed in claim 1, wherein said supporting beam is swung within a span of less than 50 cm, and at a speed of more than 10 times per minute and less than 100 times per minute.
 3. The bodybuilding exerciser as claimed in claim 1, wherein said round and freely rotatable waist and buttocks rest mounted on said supporting beam has a diameter more than 20 cm and less than 50 cm, and a thickness more than 1 cm and less than 5 cm.
 4. The bodybuilding exerciser as claimed in claim 1, wherein said driving means includes a driving motor having a motor shaft, a crank directly connected to said motor shaft, and means for converting circular motion and swing motion of said crank into lateral linear motion. 